Whole roasted apple bara brith

Bara brith translates from Welsh as ‘speckled bread’. Here, chef turned homesteader Gaz Oakley puts a spin on a classic from his childhood by baking whole apples and placing them in the centre of the cake.

Whole roasted apple bara brith. Credit: Quadrille

• serves

  12

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  1:20 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 300 g (1½ cups/10½ oz) mixed dried fruit, such as sultanas (golden raisins), currants, raisins and candied mixed peel
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp chia seeds
• 500 ml (2 cups) strong freshly brewed black tea
• 4 apples (something like Cox is ideal),
• 3 tbsp + 3 tsp caster (superfine) sugar
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 220 g (1¼ cups/7¾ oz) brown sugar
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) olive oil, plus a little extra for greasing
• 400 g (2¾ cups/14 oz) self-raising flour
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• 3 tsp ground mixed spice

Soaking time: 2 hours.

Cooling time: 20 minutes.

Instructions

1. Start by chopping the dried fruit quite finely before placing it in a large bowl with the chia seeds. Pour over the hot tea, then allow the fruit to soak it up and slightly plump up for around 2 hours.
2. Preheat your oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced) / 400°F/Gas Mark 6. Grease two 450 g (1lb) loaf tins (pans) with a little olive oil and line them with baking parchment.
3. Peel the apples but leave the stalks and cores intact. Place the apples in a roasting tray, sprinkle over the caster sugar and cinnamon, then roast in the oven for 25 minutes.
4. Once the dried fruit has plumped up, fold the brown sugar and olive oil through the mixture until well incorporated. Then sift the flour, salt and mixed spice into the bowl and mix lightly until just combined – don’t over-mix.
5. Spoon around a 4 cm (1½-inch) depth of cake mixture into the base of each loaf tin, then place 2 roasted apples into each, stalk-side up. Spoon the remaining cake batter all around the apples, filling the loaf tins.
6. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, then cover the tins with foil and bake for a further 25 minutes. Remove from the oven but leave covered for another 20 minutes to finish cooking through.
7. When cooled, slice thickly and enjoy. You can also toast the slices in a non-stick pan to make them deliciously crisp.

This is an edited extract from Plant to Plate by Gaz Oakley (Quadrille, RRP $49.99). Photography by Tom Kong with Gaz Oakley, Oliver Biggs and Matthew Williams.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.